What Parents Want - Tips from a Teacher Mom about Parent Communication

Studies repeatedly show that parental involvement in education has a direct impact on student achievement, yet teachers often struggle with getting parents actively involved in our classrooms. As professional demands increase for teachers and modern lifestyles keep families incredibly busy, it becomes even more challenging to build quality relationships with the parents of our students. However, we must invest time in reflecting on the effectiveness of our parent communication in order to maximize the positive impact on our students. This post is written by an anonymous classroom teacher that also happens to be a mother of three wonderful children. Read more to see how becoming a parent really changed her perspective about communication!

Dear Teachers,

When I began teaching, I always thought I was being very clear in my communication. I sent home newsletters, personalized emails and notes, and even invited parents into my classroom for special events. I assumed the parents in my classroom felt informed and understood my perspective. After I became a parent, I began to realize that I may not be communicating all that I originally thought. As teachers, we think a lot about HOW and HOW OFTEN to communicate with parents, but I wonder if we think as much about WHAT message our parents are really receiving from us about their child. Communication is more than the words we say to parents, but also what they hear and understand as a result.  Based on my experiences as both a parent and a teacher, I have developed these tips for better communication between parents and teachers.

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Need Indoor Recess Ideas?

Indoor recess... It's as dreaded by teachers as it is students. They want to get out and play. We desperately need them to get the wiggles out so they can focus on learning. With the right indoor recess activities, you can have your students looking forward to indoor recess days instead of dreading them. Lucky for us, there are tons of indoor games and activities you can do right inside your classroom that will help your students let off some steam and be ready to learn again. 

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7 Activities to Make Math Fun

Math. Some of us love teaching it. Some of us hate it. The same is true for our students. But no matter how we feel about it, we have to teach math. And we all know that it's easier and more enjoyable for everyone if we can get our students excited about what they're learning. Fortunately, there are lots of ways to make math fun for even your toughest students. Today, I'm sharing some of my students' favorite math activities.

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Keeping Students Engaged in the Text

At about this time of year, my students got bored.  Bored of the same old, same old.  Tired of the questions. This was always about the right time to toss some novelty in the classroom!

Are you looking for some novel ideas to keep kids engaged while reading?

In first through third grades, students are asked to ask and answer questions in a text.  Of course, the difficulty of the task depends on the grade level, but the core idea is the same. This is something we worked on all year long.  We started by creating an anchor chart with possible words that could start a question.  In years past, I have also created more explicit question stems, it just depended on the class. This anchor chart was up all year and was a great reference and foundation for students.

To keep kids engaged in the text, we tracked questions we created.  Then we checked off if the question was answered in the text.  I also wrote the student's name next to the question to help give ownership of the question.  The kids loved seeing their names on anchor charts!

Another way to keep students engaged in the text is to talk about predictions.  Most students are familiar with predictions.  However, they make them before they read the text and that is that.

You can actually do a lot with predictions to help support metacognition.

I always looked at predictions like questions. We made them before reading, and reflected on them during and after reading.  We would adjust our predictions in the middle of the text and check to see if our original predictions from the beginning of the text were correct.   At the end of the text, we reflected on our previous predictions and then wondered, "What next?"

It really helped keep kids engaged throughout the entire text.

Another novel idea for informational text is a Fact, Question, Response chart.  I used this as a loose organizer for student thinking while reading.  

We were able to write down interesting and IMPORTANT facts while reading the text.  These are great, because later you can reflect on the facts and determine if any of the facts are key details. 

The question column is similar to most questioning activities.  We checked off any of the questions we found answers to.  

The response area is very powerful.  It is a great place to make inferences and  defend thinking with evidence from the text.

You may notice that some of the sentences are highlighted.  After we completed the chart, we highlighted any of the important ideas we wanted to include in a summary of the text (Thank You, Sarah Hale).  Students were surprised that we had collected so many of the important ideas during our thinking!

Looking for more novel ideas while reading? Make sure to check out the Classroom Tested Resources pinterest board.

Follow Classroom Tested Resources's board CTR Reading on Pinterest.

How do you keep kids engaged in the text while reading?  Any other novel ideas?

 If you would like more ideas, be sure to follow Classroom Tested Resources on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook to catch all the freebies and ideas and more!

PIN for LATER:

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Columbus Myths Exposed for Kids

Hey, it's Beth from Adventures of a Schoolmarm. The autumn weather has finally set in here in southwestern Ohio, and I couldn't be happier! I love everything about fall... hoodies, campfires, and chilly weather are my faves! 

This also means that Columbus Day is right around the corner, and teaching about Columbus can be, well, tricky. The more I have learned about him as I have grown older, the less I like him as a human being, and yet there he is, celebrated every second Monday in October. And while the whole story about Columbus is just TOO MUCH for upper elementary students to be exposed to, I do think it is important to teach them the facts without filling their heads with myths. 

The first thing I like to have students do is brainstorm everything they think they know about Columbus. In many cases, they think they know a lot about him, but they actually believe a lot of inaccurate information. I like to have them record it on this graphic organizer, then collect it to save for later.

Next, I focus on correcting the main myths that surround Columbus. I love to expose the kids to the different myths through a variety of texts... a non-fiction coloring book, a class reader's theater play, and some non-fiction comprehension passages.

MYTH: Columbus set sail to prove the earth was round because everyone else believed it was flat. 

FACT: Columbus did not need to prove the earth was round because educated people already knew it. 

Pythagoras was the first person to hypothesize that Earth was round... nearly two thousand years before Columbus was born! In fourth century B.C.E., Aristotle used his observations of space to prove this was true. During a lunar eclipse, Aristotle noticed that the earth cast a shadow on the moon... and that shadow was round! In other words, it was common knowledge that the earth was round by the time Columbus set sail. 

MYTH: Columbus was the first explorer to discover America. 

FACT: Columbus never even landed in North America. 

Nearly 500 years earlier, a Viking explorer named Leif Erikson did land in North America. He and his crew landed in modern day Canada. John Cabot, an explorer from England, also landed in North America shortly after Columbus's voyage to the New World. So why isn't John Cabot as recognized as Columbus? Early American colonists were looking for a hero to celebrate, but John Cabot claimed land in the name of England. Since the early colonists were at war against the British, Columbus was a more neutral choice... even though he never set foot in North America during any of his four voyages!

MYTH: Columbus was kind to the native people. 

FACT: Columbus turned the native people into slaves.  

When Columbus wrote in his journals about the native people, he described them as kind, trustworthy, and hardworking. He was surprised by how generous they were, willing to share everything they had with others. Columbus used their peaceful natures to his advantage. He seized their land and made them work in his gold mines. He even forced many of them to return to Spain on his ships so he could sell them into slavery!

As you can imagine, most of this information is pretty new to the kids, and they have a lot to say about it! After our unit on Columbus, I give them time to revisit their prior knowledge. They are usually really surprised to see how much their schema has changed.

Would you like to have your students compare their "Before and After" knowledge about Christopher Columbus? You can download it for FREE here. If you are interested in kid-friendly academic materials about the real Columbus story, I have a 70+ page unit now available in my store! Check it out here.

I'd love to hear about some of your favorite ways to teach about Christopher Columbus in the comments below. See you next month!

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Using Edmodo to Differentiate and Engage

While I sometimes question the amount of screen time our younger generation is experiencing,  I do believe in the theory of moderation. I do believe technology gives us an advantage in the education world and culturally that we’ve never experienced before. When I was growing up I couldn’t just talk to somebody on the other side of the world and learn something new with them with the click of a button. Today, our children can. So I try to keep up with the newest trends in technology.  Plus I try to teach my students that technology is an amazing tool but they have an obligation to stay healthy and that requires movement.

One tool I’ve been playing around with for a while Is Edmodo. I used it some last year. Then did some more research this summer and I attended the 2015 EdmodoCon and I was sold. The features are unbelievable.  

As I stated previously, I started dabbling with Edmodo last year when I came across the Global Read Aloud.  A teacher from Australia and I used it to create small groups that met once a week to collaborate and discuss Jennifer Holm's The Fourteenth Goldfish. It was amazing! My students were so excited to use a platform similar to Facebook to meet with others their age. Their excitement crossed over to their love of The Fourteenth Goldfish not only because it is an amazing book but they were in control of their learning. They were able to ask questions and share connections with peers on the other side of the world.

Today I'm going to share with you how I'm using Edmodo to create self-regulated learners in my intervention classroom.  I’m using it with my sixth graders this year because they have a 1:1 classroom and they are able to bring their laptops down to my room.  

I want to share some amazing features I’m using to make learning more engaging!

Here’s what the group page looks like:

                                         

You can see the group setting and the ability to create small groups within your class group. This makes differentiating so much more simple.

Then I’ve highlighted the middle “post” portion. This is very similar to Facebook except it has education features that allow the teacher to create assignments, tests, quizzes and polls. Students can post but you need to remind them that their post are not private and can be read by all members of the group including yourself.

There is an Assignment Center for the students to quickly find assignments and all their assignment details. I don’t assign “homework” but they do have assignments that they work on in class. I’ve already found that even my reluctant speakers will ask questions in a post this way.  And I can only imagine the relief it would be for parents if there was an assigned time in the evenings that a teacher would answer any questions on Edmodo for homework help at home. The possibilities are endless.

Last but certainly not least, my apps! I’m just going to highlight the apps I'm using right now but you should definitely check it out for yourself because there are more apps then you could ever imagine.

My number one favorite is Snapshot. 

This app gives you the formative assessments needed to ensure coverage of standards. You choose the standards, your students take a short test,  the app gives you reports. Then it  offers lessons for students who may need more direct instruction regarding the standard they're not meeting. I'm using these reports as part of my students' goals & reflections notebook work. Click on the graphic to learn more about snapshot.  

 This is my second favorite app. My goal for all my students is to become self-regulated learners. With my 6th grade group I'm able to give them opportunities  to practice setting goals, asking essential questions and their ELA standards using this app. This is where I create their lessons. I give brf mini lessons, release them to work on their Blendspace assignments then  I meet with individual students to conference regarding goals, lessons and reflections. Click on the graphic to learn more about blendspace. 

I'm just now in the beginning stage of introducing this app but I felt like it was worth the mention. It's similar to GoodReads but it's for kids. They can find books, write book reviews, read others' reviews, and much more. 

I'll be posting more on my experiences with Edmodo on Looney's Literacy so be sure to follow along here. 

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End of the Year ABC Class Memory Book {plus a FREEBIE!}

If you are anything like me, this is the time of the school year that I get SUPER nostalgic! It's a bittersweet time for me. I know the time with my current students is getting shorter and shorter, but I also begin to get incredibly excited about next school year. Sound familiar?

It's very important to me that we take the time to reflect on everything that we have been learning during the school year. One of my favorite ways to do this is to create a Collaborative Memory Scrapbook with my students in the last week of school.  It really motivates the students to write about what we have learned and experienced, but it also allows them some "down time" to decorate their books. It is a great "time-filler" for those extra blocks of time during the last week of school! It also makes a great keepsake for the year. (I still have all the class memory books we have made. I'm sentimental like that!)  

I like to use this FREE graphic organizer to help my students brainstorm about things that we have learned over the course of the year. We write down key words from the academic content, special events, and other memories. We get creative with some of the more difficult letters. For example, "X" might represent the symbol for multiplication or the science vocabulary word xylem. At this time, we include more than one word for each letter. We also might include words in more than one category. For example, our field trip to Caesar's Creek to collect fossils could go under the letters C and F. 

I also get myself organized. I like to create a full-page book with one letter on each page. I leave the top half of the page empty and the add lines to the bottom of the page. I make 2 copies of each letter--one for the rough draft and one for the final copy.

Once we have collected key words, we determine which options work best for each letter and eliminate duplicates. Each student gets assigned a letter of his or her choice. Depending on class size, some students might get more than one letter of the alphabet. 

Have each student write a rough draft paragraph about their topic or memory. I like to have them meet with peers to edit first, then with me. Afterwards, I give them their fresh, "final copy" paper to rewrite their paragraph in their best handwriting. If you have students that write with light pressure, you will need to remind them to press harder so that their page will copy correctly. I have students leave the top part of the page blank. This leaves them room to either draw their own pictures or to glue pictures from their school year in those spots. 

I like to copy these pages front to back. I make enough copies for each student to have their own collaborative memory book. I have had students create their own covers, had the class vote on a cover, and also provided my own. You decide! 

I don't know about you, but I take SO MANY photos during the school year! I like to add them into a Power Point presentation, resize the pictures so that are much smaller (I can fit a lot more on the page that way), and then print them for the students. I try to make sure that each student has pictures of himself or herself from different events or lessons over the year. I let the kids cut them out and paste them in their memory book wherever they like. They absolutely LOVE it! If you don't take many photos or you aren't able to use that much ink, you can also let the students illustrate their memory books. 

I hope the end of your school year is filled with many wonderful memories! If you are interested in creating a Collaborative ABC Memory Book with your own class, you can check it out in my store here or click on the picture below. It is versatile and spans grades K-6. 

What other fun things do you like to do at the end of the year? I'd love to hear about them in the comments below! Also, don't forget to check out our Facebook page every afternoon this week for teacher Appreciation Giveaways!!! 

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Fun ideas for the end of the Year {+ a freebie!}

Hi there! It's Kristen from Chalk & Apples, and I'm excited to share with you some ways that I like to celebrate the end of the year with my class. Stick around to the end for a (not so) flash freebie!

1. Going out on a Positive Note

I teach fifth grade, and our students leave us in May headed for the oh-so-exciting world of middle school. This is a HUGE deal for them, so we try to make the last day of school extra special. At the very end of the day, we line up all of the fifth graders ("seniors of the elementary school" as they call themselves) for a celebration of their accomplishments.

All of the Pre-K through fourth grade classes line the hallways of our school and a popular song is played over the intercom while our fifth graders parade through the school. (Last year's song was "Happy," but I'd love some suggestions from you for this year!) During our parade through the halls, the lower grades cheer like we are rock stars. Some classes have been known to throw confetti or spray silly string, and there are always lots of signs made for big brothers and sisters.

Every year, the fifth graders swell with pride as they walk the halls of our school one last time. Every year, this teacher tries unsuccessfully not to cry on the last day of school. Our celebration ends as we exit the front of the school where their parents are waiting, some with balloons and flowers. We cheer for our students, blow bubbles, and take pictures. It's the perfect way to end the school year!

2. End of the Year Awards

Right before our big celebration, we have an End of the Year Awards ceremony. Throughout the year, we give academic and attendance awards every quarter, but the end of the year awards are different. Along with the academic awards, we also give out superlatives. Each student gets a unique award just for him/her. In the past, I have decided on the awards myself, but this year, I am going to do it true superlative-style, and let my class vote. (I'm making it easy on myself by using a Google form.) I can't wait to see who they give each award to this year!

3. A to Z Countdown to Summer

For the last 26 days of school, I like to do a little celebration every day. We call it our A to Z Countdown because each day has a theme tied to a letter of the alphabet. Some student favorites are:

• Ice Cream Day
• Letter Day (Write a letter to your favorite teacher in our school thanking them and then hand-deliver it.)
• Summer Birthday Day (Have a birthday party for all those summer birthday students who get left out during the year.)
• Twin Day
• Water Fun Day (Play water games outside for an hour or so at the end of the day.)

Don't think you can handle 26 days of celebrations? Too late to start for this school year? No worries, just do a shorter celebration, and don't tell them it's A to Z. I usually do all 26, but this year's class will only be counting down for the last two weeks because, well... They don't need any encouragement to start celebrating summer early! There are tons of free ideas out there, but if you want the signs I use for the classroom, you can get them here.

4. The Last Days of School {freebie!}

Whether you're moving rooms or staying put, the end of the year always comes with some much needed cleaning, organizing, and packing away of materials. And what better way to spend those last hours before school ends for the summer than doing something to make the start of next year easier? This is where I am so thankful I teach older grades. They want to help. They LOVE to help. They are actually quite helpful! During the last few days of school, I put out these End of the Year Cleaning Task Cards. When a student finishes an assignment or activity early, I have them choose a task card to complete. It's a win-win for everyone! I get the jobs done in the classroom that I need, and they get to do all the fun stuff they seem to love so much. (I will never understand why wiping sharpie off of my laminated name tags is such a popular activity, but I'm glad I don't have to do it!) As a Teacher Appreciation Week thank you gift, I'm making these FREE for you now through Monday night (5/4/15)!

How do you end your school year? What fun and memorable activities do you use to celebrate a successful year with your class?

Thanks for stopping by! Check out my blogs, Chalk & Apples and Teaching Trio for more great ideas!

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Poetry Writing in the Upper Elementary Classroom

Hello! I'm Rachel from Mrs. O "Knows". I'm thrilled to be a part of this collaborative blog and share some amazing resources and ideas with you each month. I've already learned so much from this wonderful group of bloggers and I look forward to our journey together!

Let's talk poetry! First of all, I LOVE poetry! April is pretty much my favorite month of teaching. I still remember the first time I read Shel Silverstein. As I read more and more poetry, I was overcome by the way that it could express so many different emotions.

That being said, not everyone loves poetry at first. Poetry can involve quite a bit of inferring and that's certainly one of the more challenging reading strategies. It's certainly important to find a good balance of poems to read and discuss, but there's also another way to increase their interest - engage students in poetry writing!

I've got a secret strategy that gets my students excited about poetry from the start. On the very first day of poetry, I lay out notebooks, Sharpies, and a large pile of random stickers (think of all those extra teacher stickers you have in a box somewhere). As we begin our poetry writing adventure I give students time to grab a notebook, label it, and decorate it with no more than 20 stickers.

Stickers? Access to the teacher's Sharpies? Their own poetry notebook? Oh yeah, this raises excitement!

What do we put in our poetry notebooks? We use it as a journal and an interactive notebook. As I introduce poems, I share notes on poetry elements, examples of different types of figurative language, and my own original examples of different styles of poetry. As we learn, we write. This is how we used our notebooks the first week:

The key to successful poetry notebooks is for students to feel ownership. Think about all of the interactive notebooks that students use in your classroom. Most of the time, they are putting in what you want them to. With their poetry notebooks, they are putting some notes in, but they are also writing about topics of their own interest each day. As you introduce new elements and styles of poetry, they will gain a deeper understanding of poetry writing, and their writing will grow. You might be surprised when you see how often they're willing to share! 

Here's a peek at my current notebook. I think it's important to write with the students so that they can watch me in the process. I think aloud my whole writing process and I never plan my poems ahead of time (though I do have back-ups from previous years if I get super stuck). Since I love poetry, it's fun for me and a great way to expose them to thinking like a writer.

Now, I know this is poetry writing. You might be feeling a little uneasy about writing poetry when you have to teach your students to read it, but writing poetry will build your students toward a much deeper understanding of poetry. There is a strong connection between reading and writing. Just as readers are writers, writers of poetry can be readers of poetry. By engaging students in poetry writing, they will experience a more meaningful connection to the poetry that they are reading as begin to read it from a poet's perspective.

If you'd like access to the notes that I provided my students during this first week as well as a copy of the week one plan above, you can grab them by clicking the image below. 

If you're interested in exposing students to the different styles of poetry writing that I use in the classroom, you might want to check out my Poetry Writing Pack or check out my Seasonal Sensory Poem FREEBIE.

Wishing you all a wonderful poetry journey! 

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